What is the difference between osteopathy and chiropractic

Osteopathy treatment revolves around a core belief that if one part of the body is restricted, then the rest of the body must adapt and compensate. Osteopaths use techniques such as stretching, myofascial release, articulation and joint mobilisation to releases areas of restriction within the body.

Physiotherapists use a variety of techniques to help your body move to its full potential. Since chiropractors deal mainly with spine ailments, they use imaging techniques to determine the cause of the ailment. Manual techniques are usually the preferred form of assessment used by osteopath. A chiropractor mainly focuses on the spine. They believe that spinal health will eventually heal the whole body.

With a holistic approach, they aim to concentrate on the whole body. This way, they can focus on healing a number of ailments, including circulatory and digestive system disorders. Where a chiropractor focuses on spinal adjustments, an osteopath uses a number of techniques to heal the body, including adjustments, medications, and injections. Chiropractors focus on spinal adjustment and use techniques that facilitate optimal nerve transition.

In terms of the similarities between the two practices, both Osteopaths and Chiropractors believe that having the correct spinal alignment is the key to overall better health. It is not unusual for chiropractors to even have X-Ray machinery in their own offices.

Opposingly, an osteopath will mainly determine problem areas by giving the patient a physical examination — using touch and feel to establish where the focus of the treatment needs to be. Take for example; sinus problems. But there are key differences. In order for us to truly appreciate these differences, we first need to look at the similarities and beginnings of both.

Osteopathy as a method was refined in by Andrew Taylor Still, the son of a physician. As a child Still was a persistent headache sufferer, and this may have contributed toward his interest in health and wellbeing. He studied medicine and, during the American Civil War, served as a hospital student. Chiropractic appeared a little over a decade later, in possibly , by Daniel David Palmer.

In its initial instance, chiropractic was strikingly similar to osteopathy; it is even believed that David Palmer trained briefly under Andrew Still. Both the osteopathic and chiropractic practices view the body as a self-sufficient system capable of healing itself, and both use the following as a means to diagnose clients:.

And both are regarded today as CAMs Complementary and alternative medicines. Unlike other CAMs, both osteopathy and chiropractic are recommended by NICE the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence as manual therapies for pains such as lower back pain and upper back pain , and both are regulated as conventional medicines: with laws that ensure practitioners are properly qualified and adhere to the right standards and codes of practice.

However, to form this worldview is to simply ignore the testament of thousands of practicing osteopaths and chiropractors. To get to the crux of the point, the most obvious difference between the two practices is the central focus, or philosophy:.